Archive for Niederegger

Even though this hasn’t been the best treat so far (to be honest, it wasn’t too good at all…to dry and somehow lacking a nice edge!), it definitely is the cutest one so far! Isn’t this a cuddly marzipan teddy bear?

Even though pineapple is my favorite fruit, I would not count pineapple marzipan as my favorite version of marzipan; and yet it is tempting! I have to admit I’ve tried it before, so basically I know what I got in here.

Most of the time, Niederegger has this thin semi-bitter chocolate shell filled with an enormously juicy type of marzipan. And this one is juicy as usual, with a nice raw texture floating over your tongue.

The pineapple is distinguishable from the rest and there is some nice fruity edge, while on the other hand it is rather decent, so it would not interfere with the actual taste of marzipan. This is something that can go fatally wrong when trying to combine fruit and marzipan. Especially if you’re attempting to make the fruit the main aroma of the marzipan: The fruit will overshadow the nutty marzipan aroma and make the treat fruity but lacking the actual taste of marzipan. Every time I get a treat like this I feel kind of spoiled: I bought marzipan without any marzipan flavor…
But I won’t complain this time, the balance is very well chosen, I really enjoy this treat, even though I’d rather go for plain marzipan!

There isn’t too much I can say about this fabulous marzipan chocolate. A thin smooth milk chocolate coating, filled with something I’ve never tried before, just because I feared the alcohol in combination with the walnuts and the marzipan. But against my expectations, they go perfectly well with each other.

This tiny tower looks just like there is nothing special in it, don’t you think so?

Seldom I’ve seen such a plain thing with such a huge surprise inside. The marzipan is a little sweet, but the alcohol adds a decent edge to this treat, and the walnut which is on top of the chocolate (under the coating), adds a shade of bitterness to this treat; and of course some bite as well. The texture could be a little more solid, but the marzipan is very juicy and as a whole I really enjoyed it!

After that nougat-disappointment this is very good and makes up for everything! More like this! Doesn’t it look absolutely amazing?

Friday is my personal favorite day of the week… Finding a nougat-praline in my calendar on a Friday seems more like a Friday 13th… Actually, I do not believe in things like this, but I had a really awkward chain of events on a Friday 13th, so, who knows?

As I told you, today I’m dealing with a nougat praline… And what’s the chocolate filling I dislike most except for liquorice? Yeah, you’re right, nougat. I hate this sickening nutty-sweetness in a sweet whole milk chocolate…. Then again, let’s try it before judging…

The rather thick chocolate shell is very light and smells milky, and of course you can smell the nougat on the outer parts as well. On the inside there is this familiar nutty smell, but the smooth mass does not have too much nut in it.

It is not only the smell, but also the taste that differs from the common nougat treat. It is just as sweet as usual, but it definitely lacks nut. This thing here is just sweet! Sugar and lots of sugar combined in a crème that makes your teeth hurt.

Well, I actually do not miss this intensive nut aroma I’ve expected to be there, but it just misses in this treat. Nougat is called like that because of its nutty aroma, not due to it’s amount of sugar (which is there anyway…).

All in all, I just cannot rate this thing really high. This has nothing to do with me disliking nougat, this chocolate simply is a sugar-treat… Bummer!

Today I got two tiny packages of Niederegger’s classic marzipan, but with two different covers: Marzipan in finest dark chocolate, one with 75% cocoa and the other with 87% cocoa.

Well, when I unwrapped it, I did not see any difference. You might say “what’s wrong with that guy, the one in the back is way darker”, but this is just the light. In fact, I exchanged the marzipan treats after the first picture, just to show you that they look exactly the same. This is a little weird in my opinion, but who am I to judge?

What is distinguishable is their smell. The dark one is way bitterer and the marzipan is hardly smellable, while on the other treat the marzipan smell is a little stronger and you can even smell a hint of sweetness in there.

I start with the darker version. It is a very thin chocolate coating that comes with an exceptional cracking sound while eating. Of course it is a smooth praline, but this cracking sound is remarkable! The marzipan is smooth but raw on your tongue, just as I expected it to be. It is rather bitter and even the marzipan will not change that, as it is not as sweet as some cheap marzipan creations are. This combination is one of the best I’ve ever tried, but definitely not the right thing for those who enjoy sickly sweet marzipan treats.

The lighter one is a little sweeter, which is not bad though. What I do not like about this treat is that the marzipan is not as juicy as the first filling was. A little sad but things happen. It should not, especially as Niederegger is not the cheapest marzipan producer on the market, and yet not all the almonds taste alike.

Finally, I’m back! I’ve been waiting for December first for a long time now; specifically since the day I decided to start anew today, with new enthusiasm and a good system to blog even when I get very busy studying. Studying medicine is not as easy as I expected it to be, there are some downsides even though it is what I always wanted to do. The time I need to spend on studying and practicing is really a lot. But: I found a way!

So, as you may open the first door of your Advent Calendar today, I decided to start with the coverage of my awesome Niederegger calendar I got from my mother. Unfortunately, I cannot give you really high quality pictures now, as it is dark outside and my lights are not made for taking photos. Anyways…

Today I found a “mousse au chocolat” marzipan dessert pastry. It consists of a thin milk chocolate layer, filled with a layer of mousse au chocolate embedded in a lot of marzipan. The marzipan provides a nice scent of nut, mixing up with a faint note of chocolate. It is not too sweet, but it certainly differs from Niederegger’s classic marzipan.

The mousse au chocolate, well, it is rather sticky than mousse-like, but the taste is really pleasant and a lot like a typical mousse au chocolate.
The mixture of a smooth filling embedded in marzipan reminds me of the nougat-marzipan combination lots of people love and enjoy. I think this one is a worthy rival!

I wanted to do something special today, but I am still not up to date with all the things I have to figure out these days. So I thought I’d show you my review of Niederegger’s classical marzipan.
All four versions come with a thin dark chocolate coating. The smell of the marzipan comes through the shell and provides a not too sweet but almondy aroma. A really tempting start!

Pineapple

You can tell from the outside that there is fruit inside the treat. I would not realize it is pineapple, but definitely fruit. Even the marzipan itself does not smell like pineapple, but still fruity. I’ve tried citrus marzipan before and I really did not like it as the entire marzipan flavor was overshadowed by the citrus. But here we have (finally) pineapple, mixed up with marzipan. Both flavors are really in balance and change while eating. It is fruity, but it does not lack the original marzipan flavor. The marzipan goes well with the bitter coating, really nice treat!

Pistachio

The only thing I smell from the outside is dark chocolate and typical Marzipan. The actual marzipan smells a little tarter and so is the taste. I like the huge amount of nuts in it, and I like it even more that the pistachio is dominating the flavor. I’ve eaten marzipan before in which the almonds were more intensive than the pistachio and this was a bummer. Not with this version, I like it even more than the pineapple one!

Espresso

Espresso treats will never be my thing, so I’d rather not rate this version. Still, I need to say something about it. What I like about it is this marzipan, is that after the really dominant and intensive coffee aroma wears off, there still is the actual marzipan flavor. Therefore I find it suiting for all those of you who really like the taste of coffee, as well as for marzipan-lovers. Even I ate both of the espresso marzipan chocolates inside the package, so you see, it wasn’t even too appalling to me 🙂 And I have to admit that the combination of marzipan and espresso goes really well with the bitter chocolate coating!

Orange

Last one in the row is the classical orange marzipan version. Lots of chocolates contain orange marzipan, so basically, I knew what I had to expect. Somehow the texture is different from the other marzipan versions, however this happened. It is a little drier and firmer, the chocolate coating tends to crumble apart. I miss the juiciness the other marzipan chocolates have. The orange flavor is kind of balanced, but the aftertaste overshadows the actual marzipan flavor a little. Even though I usually really like orange-flavored marzipan, I’d chose the pineapple version over it.

So, all in all I liked this marzipan-chocolate “collection”, but the orange version was a little odd. Next time I’m going to try the new “flavor of the year” forrestberry marzipan version and I’m really looking forward to testing it! Further, I’ve already started to try their Christmas range…Geek, amazingly delicious!